Boston Red Sox All-Star first baseman Willson Contreras believes the organization depends on analytics too much.
Contreras voiced his frustrations after the Red Sox were swept by the New York Yankees in the wild-card series, which included getting outscored 18-2 in the two games. Boston starter Sonny Gray was pulled in the fifth inning of Wednesday's season-ending loss despite allowing only one run on 70 pitches.
"It's not enough when you have talent or you have data or you have computers that's telling you what to do. Because this is baseball," Contreras said postgame, according to MassLive's Christopher Smith. "And the data is here to help us. But at the end of the day, you're gonna have to need experience and veteran guys to win games."
Contreras would also like to talk with chief baseball officer Craig Breslow about how the Red Sox should use analytics.
"At the end of the day, we can talk, we can share ideas, but like I said, I'm not making decisions," Contreras said. "And we're not going to make decisions. We are employees. We get paid to play baseball and we get paid to be out there on the field to perform. I mean, that's the bottom line. Of course, we can have some conversations."
He added: "But at the end of the day, it's not about data. It's about executing the game plan."
The 34-year-old enjoyed the best season of his 11-year career in his first campaign with the Red Sox. He put up career highs in homers (27), RBIs (81), OPS (.901), and fWAR (4.0).
Boston hasn't won a postseason series since 2021.
